Lantern bail



Patented Oct. 12, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD G. BRINKMEYER AND GEORGE n. ROLFES, or ST. LOUIS, rrssouar, as.-

SIGNORS 'ro ALEXANDER H. HANDLA'N, or sr. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

LANTERN BAIL.

Application filed February This invention relates generally to hand lanterns, and particularly to a bail for a hand lantern of the type having a frame composed of vertical and horizontal wires.

As is well known, a hand lantern of the type suggested above is usually provided with what is known as a swinging bail, said bail comprising an inverted U-shapedwire having eyes formed at its ends, which eyes are caused to engage eyes formed on certain of the wires of which the frame of the lantern is composed. These lanterns are used extensively by persons engaged in operating railroad trains who transmit signals from one to another by swinging said lanterns in predetermined directions. It has been found that the ordinary swinging bail is not well adapted for. this work and that a lantern having a rigid bail is more suitable for signaling. We have therefore devised the improved bail disclosed in the present application, which is so constructed that it may be easily and quickly applied to an ordinary hand lantern after the swinging bailhas been removed therefrom, and when so applied will provide a i no bail of the desirable rigid type.

lVhile it :is desirable that the bail of lantern be rigid for signaling purposes, stilfl because these lanterns are placed in relatively small kit boxes when not in use it is necessary that said bails be capable of being moved from their upright positions. l/Ve therefore have arranged our improved bail so that a portion thereof is. capable of pivotal movement with respect to the lantern frame, thus permitting said pivoted portion to be moved from its extended position.

Another advantage of the bail disclosed in the present application over the ordinary swinging bail results from the fact that our improved bail is made of material of considerably greater cross sectional diameter than the ordinary bail, whereby a better and more comfortable gip may be obtained by the person carrying the lantern.

Fig, I is a frontelevation of a h aJnd lan-' tern provided with our improved bail, a portion of said bail being shown in section.

Fig. II is an elevation of the lantern and hail shown in Fig. I, said view being taken in. the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. I. Fig. III illustrates an enlarged fragment 16, 1925. Serial No. 9,539.

of a portion of the bail shown in Figs. I and II, said fragment being shown partly in section and partly in elevation.

Fig. IV is a section on line IV--'IV of Fig. III.- Fig. V illustrates our improvedbail as it will appear when it is not provided with a pivoted portion.

Fig. VI is a section on line VI-VI of Fig. V.

i In the drawing, A designates a hand lan tern of the type having a frame B composed of vertical wires C and horizontal wires D. The lantern A is provided with the usual oil font holder E, globe E and hood F, and said lantern is also provided with comparatively short vertical wires G provided with eyes H which are adapted to receive the opposite end portions ofa U shaped swinging bail (not shown). lantern just described is of ordinary con-- struction and well'known in the art, and therefore will not be described further, it being understood that the. lantern shown and. described is usually provided with an ordinary swinging baiil which is removed from said lantern before our improved bail is applied thereto.

1 designates our improved bail, which comprises an inverted U-sh'aped portion 12: preferably formed of metallic tubing and having a certain amount-10f resiliency. Located at the opposite ends of the U-shaped portion 2 of the bail are, gripping portions 3 which are so constructed that they will grip certain of the wires of which the frame of the lantern is composed, whereby the bail. 1 may be attached to thelantern-A. By ref ferring to Figs. I and II it wil'l'be seenlthat the gripping portions 32 comprise each an inner wall 4 with which is associated a pair of side walls "5; in other words, that the lowermost "portion of each of said gripping portions is approximately U shaped in cross section. Arranged above the U-shapcd lowermost portion of each of the gripping ortio'ns '3 is an. upper vertical wall 6. and interposed between and connecting said- U shaped portion and said upper vertical wall is an inclined wall t. By referring to i Fiig. I it will be noted that the walls 4, 5, 6 and '7 of one o f the gripping portions 3 are formed of a' s'in'gl e piece of material which is sh'aped as shown in the drawing. Formed v in each wall 5- 'is (a horizontal slot 8, and

formed in each pair of associated walls 4 and 7 is a vertical slot 9.

Secured to the ends of the inverted U- shaped portion 2 of the bail 1 is a pair of members 10, there being one of said members attached to each individual end of said inverted Ushaped portion 2 and each of said members 10 being provided with an extension 11 which is arranged adjacent to the wall 6 of the adjacent gripping portion 3. 12 designates rivets which pass through associated walls 6 and extensions 1.1 whereby the upper portion of the bail is pivotally attached to the gripping portions 3 of said bail. Located within the lowermost ends of the inverted U-shaped tubular portion 2 of the bail 1 is a pair of vertically movable members 13, there being one of these members within each individual end portion of said inverted U-shaped portion 2. Secured to each individual member 13 is a pair of vertically arranged wings 1 1, the individual wings of each pair of wings being spaced apart from each other in a horizontal direction. By referring to Fig. I it will be seen that the inverted U-shaped portion 2 of the bail is provided with slots 15 adjacent to the movable members 13, and that screws 16 which are secured to said movable members 13 extend through said slots to provide means whereby said movable members may be moved vertically. By referring to Fig. 111 it will be seen that the pairs of wings 1 1 are arranged so that the space between each associated pair of said wings is in alinement with the vertical slot 9 in the associated gripping portion 3.

To apply the bail illustrated in Figs. 1 and II to a lantern, said bail is arranged in s ch position that the vertical slots 9 are in alinement with apair of oppositely disposed vertical wires of the frame B of the lantern, these Vertical wires being a pair of the wires C or the oppositely disposed vertical bail-attaching wires Gr. When the bail has been arranged as suggested, said bail is moved downwardly so that the oppositely disposed vertical wires mentioned are introduced into the slots 9. The lower end portions of the bail are also moved inwardly until the gripping portions 3 of said bail are within the circular horizontal wire D (Fig. I). hen the horizontal slots 8 in the walls 5 of the gripping portions 3 have been brought to positions where they are in horizontal alinement with the horizontal wire D, the resilient end of the bail is permitted to move the lower end portions thereof outwardly, thus causing said horizontal wire to be located within said slots 8, as shown in Fig. I.

During the operation of attaching the bail to the lantern as described, the hood F of the lantern is thrown backward and the wings 14: of the Vertically movable members 13 are in elevated positions, as suggested by dotted lines in Fig. I. With the parts of the bail positioned as described, it is apparent that the upper portion 2 of the bail would be capable of pivotal movement about the rivets 12, thus permitting the upper portion of said bail to be moved to a position adjacent to the lower part of the lantern frame. Assume now that it is desired to cause the upper portion of the bail to be rigid with respect to the lantern frame. In this event the vertically movable members 13 would be moved downwardly, thus causing the pairs of spaced apart wings let to embrace the adjacent vertical wires, and because said pairs of wings are supported by the upper portion of the bail, said upper portion of the bail would be prevented from pivoting about the rivets 12 and a bail would be obtained which would be rigidly attached to the lantern frame.

In Fig. V the bail 1 is not capable of piv otal movement when itis attached to a lantern but is rigid at all times. In this form of the invention the gripping members 3 are secur d directly to the ends the inverted tl-shaped portion 2 of the bail and the pairs of wings l i, instead of being capah'le of moving vertically as in the bail illustrated in Figs. 1 and II, are *igidly fixed to said gripping members 3. In the form of the invention shown in Fig. V the horizontal slots 8 will receive the horizontal wire D of the lantern frame and the vertical wires G will pass between the spaced apart wings 1 1. Because of this arrangement, it is plain that the bail will be very securely attached to the lantern, the wings 1 1 preventing any tendency of the bail to rock relative to the lantern frame. In connection with the form of the invention shown in Fig. V, it may be desirable not to rely on the resiliency of the inverted U-shaped member 2 to retain the gripping portions 3 in contact with the vertical and horizontal wires of the lantern frame, and in this event we propose to pass screws 17 through the end portions of the bail at points adj a cent to the vertical wires G with which the bail is directly associated. These screws 17 are so located that they contact with the vertical wires G in such manner that the lower end portions of the bail may not be moved inwardly to disengage the horizontal slots 8 from the horizontal wire D without removing said screws, thus eliminating the likelihood that the bail may be accidentally disengaged from the lantern.

The tube of which the inverted U-shaped portion 2' of the bail is formed is provided with a longitudinal rib" 20 where the edges of the material of which the tube is formed are joined'together and this rib is utilized as a guide to prevent rotation of the members 13, said members being each provided with a longitudinal slot 21 into Which a portion of said rib extends. By this arrangement the members 13 may move vertically Without hindrance but are prevented from rotating.

We claim:

1. A bail for a hand lantern, said lantern having a frame composed of horizontal and vertical Wires, said bail comprising a resilient member provided With portions at its opposite ends adapted to engage a horizontal Wire of the frame of the lantern, and pairs of vertically arranged Wings carried by said bail and arranged adjacent to said horizontal Wire-engaging portions of said member adapted to engage vertical Wires of said lantern frame.

2. A bail for a hand lantern, having a frame composed of horizontal and vertical Wires, comprising a resilient member provided with slotted portions at its opposite ends adapted to engage a horizontal Wire of the frame of a lantern, and a pair of spaced apart vertically arranged Wings located immediately above each individual slotted portion of said member and adapted to engage vertical Wires of said lantern frame.

3. A bail for a hand lantern, having a frame composed of horizontal and vertical Wires, comprising a resilient member provided With portions at its opposite ends adapted to engage a horizontal Wire of the frame of a lantern, each of said Wire-engaging portions comprising a. pair of spaced apart Walls provided With slots adapted to receive ahorizontal Wire of the lantern frame and another Wall provided With an opening through Which a vertical Wire of said frame passes, and pairs of vertically arranged Wings adapted to engage vertical Wires of said lantern frame.

a. A bail for a hand lantern, having a frame composed of vertical and horizontal Wires, comprising a resilient member composed of portions adapted to engage a horizontal Wire of the frame of a hand lantern and an upper portion pivot-ally attached to said Wire-engaging portions, and slidable members adapted to be moved into and out of engagement With vertical Wires of said lantern frame.

5. A bail for a hand lantern having a frame composed of horizontal and vertical Wires comprising a resilient member composed of portions adapted toengage a horizontal Wire of the frame of a lantern and a tubular upper portion pivotally attached to said Wire-engaging portions, and members arranged to slide Within the end portions of said tubular portion of said resilientmember said members being movable into and out of engagement With vertical Wires of said lantern. frame to cause said upper portion of said resilient member to be rigid or pivotally movable With respect to said horizontal Wire-engaging portions.

In testimony that We claim the foregoing We hereunto affix our signatures.

EDWARD G. BRINKMEYER. GEORGE H. ROLFES. 

